Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing satellite communications through the deployment of a fleet of multi-beam satellites serving overlapping and non-overlapping spot beams. In these methods, systems, and devices, a first communication service associated with a relatively wider spot beam of a first satellite is provided to a first coverage area having multiple terminals. A second communication service associated with a relatively narrower spot beam (e.g., high-gain spot beam) of a second satellite is provided to a second coverage area located within the first coverage area. A subset of terminals located within the second coverage area is identified, and the terminals of the identified subset are transitioned from the first communication service of the wide spot beam of the first satellite to the second communication service of the high-gain spot beam of the second satellite.
|
13. A method of managing satellite communications, the method comprising:
providing a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of an initially deployed first satellite;
providing a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of a later deployed second satellite, wherein the second plurality of satellite beam coverage regions comprises:
i. a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions, and
ii. a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions,
wherein the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand;
transitioning a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite; and
transitioning a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
1. A satellite communication system, comprising:
an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite providing a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams;
a later deployed second multi-beam satellite providing a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams, wherein the plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions comprises:
i. a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions, and
ii. a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions,
wherein the first and second elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand; and
a fleet management device communicatively coupled to the satellites, the fleet management device configured to:
transition a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite; and
transition a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
26. A system for managing satellite communications, the system comprising:
a data store configured to:
store data associating terminals within a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions with a first communication service provided by an initially deployed first satellite via a plurality of fixed location beams; and
a network configuration module configured to:
identify a first subset of the terminals located within a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions;
identify a second subset of the terminals located within a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions,
wherein the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand; and
update the data of the data store to:
associate a first plurality of terminals of the first subset of the terminals with a second communication service associated with a later deployed second satellite providing the second communication service to a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams, the plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions comprising the first and second elevated demand regions, the first plurality of terminals served by a first fixed location beam of the second satellite after being associated with the second communication service; and
associate a second plurality of terminals of the second subset of the terminals with the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals served by a second fixed location beam of the second satellite after being associated with the second communication service;
a routing configuration module configured to cause network data to be routed between a network and each terminal using one of the first communication service and the second communication service based on the data of the data store.
20. A gateway system for managing satellite communications, comprising:
a first beam service module in communication with an initially deployed first satellite, the first beam service module configured to provide a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of the first satellite;
a second beam service module in communication with a later deployed second satellite, the second beam service module configured to provide a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of the second satellite, wherein the second plurality of coverage regions comprises:
i. a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions, and
ii. a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions,
wherein the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand;
a data routing module configured to selectively route data between a network, the first beam service module and the second beam service module; and
a service transition module configured to update the data routing module to:
transition a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite; and
transition a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
2. The system of
3. The system of
4. The system of
a third fixed location beam servicing a satellite beam coverage region that overlaps at least partially with the first elevated demand region, wherein a bandwidth allocated to the third fixed location beam comprises at least the first portion of the system bandwidth of an orthogonal polarization relative to the first fixed location beam of the second satellite.
5. The system of
a fourth fixed location beam servicing a satellite beam coverage region that overlaps at least partially with the first elevated demand region and the satellite beam coverage region associated with the third fixed location beam, wherein a bandwidth allocated to the fourth fixed location beam comprises at least the first portion of the system bandwidth of a same polarization as the third fixed location beam, and wherein the third fixed location beam and the fourth fixed location beam are allocated orthogonal time resources.
6. The system of
7. The system of
8. The system of
9. The system of
compare a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the first satellite to a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite; and
select one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a selected terminal located near the fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the comparison.
10. The system of
determine an available capacity of the first satellite and an available capacity of the second satellite; and
select one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the available capacity of the first satellite and the available capacity of the second satellite.
11. The system of
re-provision the first communication service to provide a higher service level for terminals associated with the first fixed location beam of the first satellite.
12. The system of
provide a third communication service via the first fixed location beam of the first satellite, the third communication service comprising a higher service level than the first communication service; and
transition a third plurality of terminals located outside the first elevated demand region from the first communication service to the second communication service.
14. The method of
15. The method of
16. The method of
17. The method of
comparing a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the first satellite to a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite; and
selecting one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a selected terminal located near the fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the comparison.
18. The method of
determining an available capacity of the first satellite and an available capacity of the second satellite; and
selecting one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the available capacity of the first satellite and the available capacity of the second satellite.
19. The method of
actuating an antenna associated with at least one terminal of the first plurality of terminals to align the antenna associated with the at least one terminal with the first fixed location beam of the second satellite.
21. The gateway system of
22. The gateway system of
23. The gateway system of
24. The gateway system of
select one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on an available capacity of the first satellite and an available capacity of the second satellite.
25. The gateway system of
instruct at least one of the first plurality of terminals to actuate an antenna associated with the at least one identified terminal to align the antenna associated with the at least one terminal with the first fixed location beam of the second satellite.
27. The system of
28. The system of
29. The system of
update the data store to associate a selected terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite with one of the first communication service and the second communication service based on a comparison between a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the first satellite and a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite at the location of the selected terminal.
30. The system of
update the data store to associate a selected terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite with one of first communication service and the second communication service based on an available capacity of the first satellite and an available capacity of the second satellite.
|
The present application claims priority benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/749,545, filed on Jan. 7, 2013, and entitled “Satellite Fleet Deployment,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety for all purposes.
The present disclosure relates to wireless communications in general, and in particular, to broadband satellite communications networks.
As demand for broadband communications continues to grow around the world, broadband satellite communication networks have been deployed and continue to be developed to address that demand.
Embodiments are directed to a system including a fleet of multi-beam satellites, each satellite being configured to provide at least one communication service over at least one fixed-location spot beam; and a fleet management device communicatively coupled to the satellites. The fleet of satellites may include an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite providing a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams and a later deployed second multi-beam satellite providing a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams. The plurality of second satellite beam coverage regions may include a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions and a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions, where the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand. The fleet management device may be configured to transition a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite, and transition a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
In some embodiments, the first one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions and the second one of the plurality of first satellite beam coverage regions overlap or are the same region. In some embodiments, a first portion of a system bandwidth is allocated to the first fixed location beam of the first satellite a bandwidth allocated to the first fixed location beam of the second satellite includes at least the first portion of the system bandwidth. The plurality of fixed location beams of the second satellite may include a third fixed location beam that services a satellite beam coverage region that overlaps at least partially with the first elevated demand region, where a bandwidth allocated to the third fixed location beam includes at least the first portion of the system bandwidth of an orthogonal polarization relative to the first fixed location beam of the second satellite. The plurality of fixed location beams of the second satellite may include a fourth fixed location beam servicing a satellite beam coverage region that overlaps at least partially with the first elevated demand region and the satellite beam coverage region associated with the third fixed location beam, where a bandwidth allocated to the fourth fixed location beam includes at least the first portion of the system bandwidth of a same polarization as the third fixed location beam, and where the third fixed location beam and the fourth fixed location beam are allocated orthogonal time resources. In embodiments, substantially all of the plurality of second satellite coverage regions of the second satellite overlap with one or fewer other coverage regions of the plurality of second satellite coverage regions.
In some embodiments, the transition of at least one terminal of the first plurality of terminals to the second communication service associated with the second beam of the second satellite is performed in response to a customer request for the second communication service. Additionally or alternatively, the transition of at least one terminal of the first plurality of terminals to the second communication service associated with the second beam of the second satellite may be performed at the direction of a satellite system operator.
In some embodiments, the fleet management device is configured to compare a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the first satellite to a signal strength of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite and select one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a selected terminal located near the fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the comparison. The fleet management device may be configured to determine an available capacity of the first satellite and an available capacity of the second satellite and select one of the first satellite and the second satellite for communicating with a terminal located near a fringe area of the first fixed location beam of the second satellite based on the available capacity of the first satellite and the available capacity of the second satellite.
Some embodiments are directed to a method of managing satellite communications that includes providing a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of an initially deployed first satellite and providing a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of a later deployed second satellite. The second plurality of coverage regions may include a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions, and a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions, where the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand. The method may include transitioning a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite, and transitioning a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
Some embodiments are directed to a gateway system for managing satellite communications including a first beam service module in communication with an initially deployed first satellite, the first beam service module configured to provide a first communication service to a plurality of first satellite coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of the first satellite and a second beam service module in communication with a later deployed second satellite, the second beam service module configured to provide a second communication service to a plurality of second satellite coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams of the second satellite. The second plurality of coverage regions may include a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions, and a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions, where the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand. The gateway system may include a data routing module configured to selectively route data between a network, the first beam service module and the second beam service module, and a service transition module configured to update the data routing module to transition a first plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first plurality of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first plurality of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite, and transition a second plurality of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite.
Some embodiments are directed to a system for managing satellite communications including a data store configured to store data associating terminals within a plurality of first satellite coverage regions with a first communication service provided by an initially deployed first satellite via a plurality of fixed location beams, and a network configuration module configured to identify a first subset of the terminals located within a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions and identify a second subset of the terminals located within a second elevated demand region located at least partially within a second one of the plurality of first satellite coverage regions, where the elevated demand regions are associated with elevated levels of communication service demand. The network configuration module may be configured to update the data of the data store to associate a first plurality of terminals of the first subset of the terminals with a second communication service associated with a later deployed second satellite having a plurality of fixed location beams, the first plurality of terminals served by a first fixed location beam of the second satellite after being associated with the second communication service, and associate a second plurality of terminals of the second subset of the terminals with the second communication service, the second plurality of terminals served by a second fixed location beam of the second satellite after being associated with the second communication service. The system may include a routing configuration module configured to cause network data to be routed between a network and each terminal using one of the first communication service and the second communication service based on the data of the data store.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.
This description provides examples, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of embodiments of the principles described herein. Rather, the ensuing description will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing embodiments of the principles described herein. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.
Thus, various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, it should be appreciated that the methods may be performed in an order different than that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted or combined. Also, aspects and elements described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. It should also be appreciated that the following systems, methods, devices, and software may individually or collectively be components of a larger system, wherein other procedures may take precedence over or otherwise modify their application.
The useful operational life of a broadband communication satellite may be 10 to 15 years or more, while it may only require about 3 years to design, build and launch a satellite. The opportunity exists, therefore, to provide a fleet of satellites that cooperatively meet the communication demand of a target area.
Communication satellites have evolved from covering wide areas with a single beam to covering wide areas with a number of spot beams. A spot beam is a satellite signal focused on a limited geographic area of the Earth. By reducing the coverage area of the beam, a more directional antenna may be used by the satellite to transmit data to and receive data from a region of the Earth. Because the gain of an antenna is typically proportional to its directionality, a spot beam may be transmitted at a higher gain than a legacy satellite signal with a wider coverage area at the same amount of power. This higher gain can produce better signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio at the consumer terminal, which allows for higher rates of data transfer between the satellite and terminals. Also, the relatively small coverage areas of spot beams allow for frequency reuse with limited inter-beam interference, thereby providing for even greater increases in data throughput at a satellite.
While highly directional spot beams can be very useful in areas with a high demand for satellite data, it may be more efficient to serve lower-demand areas with one or more beams having wider coverage areas and lower total throughput. For example, some areas may not have a sufficient number of subscriber terminals to justify the allocation of spot beam resources to those areas.
The gateway system 115 may be a device or system that provides an interface between the network 120 and the satellite 105. The gateway system 115 may be configured to receive data and information directed to one or more subscriber terminals 130. The gateway system 115 may be configured to format the data and information along with control signals for delivery via the satellite 105 to the respective subscriber terminal 130. The gateway system may format the data and information using a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) that may be custom to the satellite or similar to others in the industry. Multi-beam satellites may also be used with Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) or Variable Coding and Modulation (VCM). Similarly, the gateway system 115 may also be configured to receive signals from the satellite 105 (e.g., from one or more subscriber terminals 130) that are directed to a destination in the network 120.
The gateway system 115 may use an antenna 110 to transmit signals to and receive signals from the satellite 105. In one embodiment, a geostationary satellite 105 is configured to receive signals from the antenna 110 and within the frequency band and specific polarization transmitted. In one embodiment, the satellite 105 operates in a multi-beam mode, transmitting a number (e.g., typically 20-100, etc.) of spot beams each directed at a different region of the earth. This can allow coverage of a relatively large geographical area and frequency re-use within the covered area. Frequency re-use in multi-beam satellite systems permits an increase in capacity of the system for a given system bandwidth. In many embodiments, the spot beams are fixed location spot beams, meaning that the angular beamwidth and coverage area for each spot beam does not intentionally vary with time.
With such a multi-beam satellite, there may be a number of different signal switching configurations, allowing signals from a single gateway system 115 to be switched between different spot beams. The signals transmitted from the satellite 105 may be received by one or more subscriber terminals 130 via a respective subscriber antenna 125. Similarly, signals transmitted from the subscriber terminals 130 via the respective subscriber antennas 125 may be received at the satellite 105 and directed to the gateway system 115 from the satellite 105.
Each spot beam of the satellite 105 supports the terminals 130 within its coverage area (e.g., providing uplink and downlink resources). Frequency re-use between spot beams may be provided by assigning one, or more, ranges of frequencies (which may be referred to as channels) to each spot beam and/or by use of orthogonal polarizations. A particular frequency range and/or polarization may be called a “color,” and frequency re-use in a tiled spot beam satellite system may be according to color. The coverage of different beams may be non-overlapping or have varying measures of overlap. In one embodiment, spot beams of the satellite 105 may be tiled and partially overlapping to provide complete or almost complete coverage for a relatively large geographical area (e.g., the Contiguous United States (CONUS), etc.) where partially overlapping or adjacent beams use different ranges of frequencies and/or polarizations. Each beam may contain a gateway, user terminals, or a gateway and user terminals. Gateway beams and user beams may also be separated from each other to allow frequency reuse between gateway and user beams.
For spot beam satellite systems, the number of spot beams may be determined by practical limits of payload capacity on the satellite and/or launch vehicles, and/or on the power budget of the satellite 105. Typically, spot beam satellites may support 20-150 spot beams providing coverage for a service area that may be several thousand miles in diameter. Each spot beam may support one or more signals of modulated radio waves that may be detected and demodulated by terminals located throughout the coverage area of the spot beam.
The system 200 illustrated in
In embodiments, a satellite fleet system includes multiple spot-beam satellites providing service within a service zone, where later deployed satellites provide targeted service to areas having elevated demand using more narrowly focused, higher gain spot beams. In one embodiment, a satellite system includes an initially deployed satellite that provides contiguous coverage for a portion of a service area using tiled spot beams. Later deployed satellites may provide targeted service to elevated demand regions within the service zone using more narrowly focused beams that overlap partially or fully with the tiled spot beams of the initially-deployed satellite. Beams of the later deployed satellites may be different sizes and may overlap one another either partially or fully.
While the relatively large coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-e may be useful for a number of applications, certain compromises in data throughput and signal reception may be associated with a larger beam. For instance, in the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-e, each receiver terminal may receive the same forward link signal of the beam as the other receivers associated with the wide spot beam 205-e. Thus, a signal transmitted in the beam may not carry different data to different regions located within the coverage area of the beam at the same time. Similarly, separate subscriber terminals transmit to the first satellite 105-a using different resources (e.g., frequency, time, etc.) of the return link signal for wide spot beam 205-e. Accordingly, the total data throughput of a frequency (or band of frequencies) may be limited by the inability to simultaneously reuse the frequency (or band of frequencies) used by the wide spot beam within the coverage area of overlapping and/or adjacent beams. Moreover, antenna directionality is typically inversely proportional to antenna gain. As such, an antenna used to transmit data in a wider beam typically has a relatively lower gain than more directional antennas used for narrower beams, and this lower gain can reduce signal reception and data throughput at terminals on the earth's surface.
In certain examples, the capacity (e.g., measured in bits-per-second) of wide spot beam 205-e may be largely utilized to serve hot spot clusters of terminals in cities or other high-density locations. The capacity of the wide spot beam may be a function of various parameters, including but not limited to: frequency bandwidth available for use by the beam; SNR or signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at the individual terminals and gateway; modulation and coding formats (e.g., MCS, etc.); multiple access scheme; and/or other factors. These hot spot clusters of terminals may result in localized areas of higher-than average demand. Because the total capacity for transmitting and receiving data over the wide spot beam 205-e can be shared among each of the terminals communicating over the wide spot beam 205-e, these localized clusters of high demand may tax the amount of capacity available over the wide spot beam 205 to other terminals within the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205. This congestion may result in data bottlenecks for the terminals.
To increase capacity, a second multi-beam satellite 105-b may be deployed that provides one or more spot beams to high-density locations within the service area 220. The second satellite 105-b may also be a geostationary satellite and may be deployed to an orbital slot providing sufficient angular separation from the first satellite 105-a to make inter-satellite interference negligible. The second satellite 105-b may use fixed location spot beams and may transmit and receive to user terminals in the same geographic areas serviced by the first satellite 105-a using the same or substantially overlapping spectrum resources as the first satellite 105-a because of the angular separation between the satellites. The second satellite may service the one or more high-gain spot beams in the service area 220 via the same gateway 115 (e.g., via separate antennas, etc.) via feeder beam 335. Additionally or alternatively, the second satellite 105-b may provide service via one or more other gateways co-located with gateway 115 or in other locations. As with gateways servicing the first satellite 105-a, gateways 115 for the second satellite 105-b may be inside or outside service zone 220.
The second satellite 105-b may employ one or more high-gain spot beams 210 that service coverage areas within the coverage areas of the first satellite 105-a. While only two high-gain spot beams 210 are shown in
This newly available capacity within the wide spot beams 205 may be dedicated to the addition of new subscriber terminals, particularly subscriber terminals that are outside the coverage area of the high-gain spot beams 210. Thus, by servicing areas of low demand density with the wider wide spot beams 205 and areas of higher demand density with the high-gain spot beams 210, a more efficient distribution of satellite resources may be achieved.
It should be understood that while
For the purposes of the present disclosure and appended claims, the term “wide spot beam” is to be broadly construed as referring to a spot beam having a coverage area within which one or more spot beams having a smaller angular beamwidth may be deployed. For the purposes of the present disclosure and the appended claims, the term “high-gain spot beam” is to be broadly construed as referring to a beam having a coverage area smaller than wide spot beams served by a multi-satellite system (e.g., typically with a diameter between 0 and about 500 miles).
By deploying the high gain spot beams 210 within the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-e, data throughput to certain regions within the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-e may increase. Additionally, the high-gain spot beams 210 may enable the second satellite 105-b to simultaneously provide different data to different coverage areas over the same frequencies. Regions outside of the coverage areas of the high-gain spot beams 210 may still receive data from the first satellite 105-a over the wide spot beam 205-e.
According to one possible strategy for managing increased consumer demand, when a high-gain spot beam 210 is deployed within the coverage area of a wide spot beam 205, the high-gain spot beams 210 may create capacity for high-demand regions to add new terminals.
The new terminals may communicate with the newly deployed high-gain spot beams 210, and the existing terminals may continue to communicate with the wide spot beam. In this scenario, the wide spot beam 205 may remain congested with data traffic because all of the existing terminals continue to remain associated with the wide spot beam 205.
However, embodiments of the present disclosure resolve this issue by providing systems and methods for reducing the congestion of the wide spot beam 205. As alluded to above, when a high-gain spot beam 210 is deployed to an area of high demand for satellite communications, the existing terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned the high-gain spot beam 210 instead of the wide spot beam 205. Existing terminals outside the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may remain in communication with the wide spot beam 205. New terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may be added to the high-gain spot beam 210. Additionally, the capacity of the wide spot beam 205 freed up by terminals transitioned to the high-gain spot beam 210 may be used to add new terminals outside the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 but still within the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205. Thus, transitioning existing members within the coverage of the high-gain spot beam 210 from the wide spot beam 205 to the high-gain spot beam 210 may result in not only an increased total data throughput capacity, but a more efficient allocation of the resources provided by the first satellite and the second satellite among the different terminals. The terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned upon request for upgraded service by users associated with the terminals, or some or all terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned to be provided service through the high-gain spot beam 210 without action on the part of the users (e.g., at the direction of the satellite system operator).
In one embodiment, Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees for satellite communication services provided by each of the first satellite 105-a and the second satellite 105-b are improved by transitioning terminals within the high-demand regions from service provided by the first satellite 105-a to service provided by the second satellite 105-b. For example, QoS for satellite communication services within a wide spot beam 205 may be influenced by the overall beam capacity (e.g., in Gbps, etc.) divided by the number of terminals served by the spot beam and may be based on statistical multiplexing of terminals.
When some or all terminals within high-demand regions of the wide spot beam 205 are transitioned to a high-gain spot beam 210, service provided by wide spot beam 205 can be re-provisioned for a higher QoS. The high-gain spot beam may, by virtue of the higher gain beam, provide higher capacity (e.g., higher MCS, etc.) than the wide spot beam 205 over the same spectrum resources. Thus, the communication service provided to terminals within the high-demand regions corresponding to the high-gain spot beams 210 may be provisioned for higher QoS, and, at the same time, the wide spot beam 205 now serves fewer terminals and each terminal may be provided with a higher statistically multiplexed QoS guarantee.
Some terminals that received communication service via the wide spot beam 205 of the first satellite may be transitioned to be provided service via the high-gain spot beam 210 of the second satellite. For example, high-gain spot beam capacity 440 may be provisioned into various service levels (e.g., provisioned service levels 450, 460, 470, etc.) and each terminal transitioned to the high-gain spot beam 210 may be serviced by one of the provisioned service levels for high-gain spot beam 210. In embodiments, each of the provisioned service levels 450, 460, and/or 470 may have a higher QoS than the communication service formerly provided by the wide spot beam 205 of the first satellite.
New terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam 210 may also be provided service by the high-gain spot beam 210 according to one of the provisioned service levels 450, 460, and/or 470.
Because some of the terminals that were serviced by the wide spot beam 205 have transitioned to the second communication service provided by the high-gain spot beam 210, the wide spot beam capacity 420 may not be fully utilized by the terminals still serviced by the wide spot beam 205. In embodiments, the communication service provided to terminals that remain serviced by the wide spot beam 205 may be re-provisioned to a higher QoS. For example, diagram 400-b illustrates that terminals that remain serviced by the wide spot beam 205 may be re-provisioned for higher service level as shown in larger provisioned service levels 430. Alternately (not shown), the communication service provided via the wide spot beam 205 may keep the same QoS level or the QoS level may even be lowered. Additionally or alternatively, provisioned service levels 430 may illustrate a new communication service provided by the wide spot beam 205. In this example, some terminals outside the coverage area for high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned to the new service with higher QoS levels while some terminals may remain provisioned for the original service levels (not shown).
Referring now to
In certain examples, one or more multiplexing techniques may be employed to implement multiple channels over the wide spot beam 205-f. Additionally or alternatively, multiple carrier frequencies may be transmitted between the subscriber terminals 130 and the gateway system 115-a in parallel using the wide spot beam 205-f to allow for multiple channels of data in the communication service associated with the wide spot beam 205-f. In the example of
As further shown in
Referring now to
The second satellite 105-b-1 may be configured to provide a second communication service to a subset of the subscriber terminals 130 located within the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-f of the first satellite 105-a-1. The second communication service provided by the second satellite 105-b-1 may be implemented by a spot beam 210-c from the second satellite, the spot beam 210-c having a coverage area that includes a portion of the coverage area of the wide spot beam 205-f of the first satellite 105-a-1. While only one spot beam 210-c from the second satellite 105-b-1 is shown in
As shown in
The coverage area of the spot beam 210-c shown in
The transitioning of the identified subscriber terminals 130 located in the coverage area of the spot beam 210-c from the first communication service to the second communication service may occur in a number of ways. In certain examples, the transition may include the deployment of technicians to the identified subscriber terminals 130 to manually reconfigure to reposition or replace antennas, reconfigure or replace modems or other receiver equipment, and/or perform other steps associated with gaining access to the second communication service offered through the spot beam 210-c of the second satellite 105-b-1. Alternately, the consumer may elect to reposition the antenna using mechanical and/or electrical connections.
Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the terminals in the identified subset may be transitioned to the second communication service by delivering hardware components, reconfiguration instructions, encryption keys, electronic credentials, and/or another type of hardware, software, or file to the subscribers associated with the subscriber terminals 130 such that the subscribers perform the reconfiguration themselves.
In additional or alternative examples, one or more of the identified subscriber terminals 130 in the coverage area of the spot beam 210-c may be transitioned to the second communication service by transmitting a control signal to the identified subscriber terminals 130. The control signal may cause the identified subscriber terminals 130 to electronically repoint one or more antennas associated with the identified subscriber terminals 130 to align the antennas with a position of the second satellite 105-b-1. The control signal may additionally or alternatively reconfigure software, firmware, settings, and the like associated with equipment of the identified subscriber terminals 130 to enable the identified subscriber terminals 130 to communicate with the second satellite 105-b-1 and connect to the second communication service. In certain examples, the control signal may be sent to the identified subscriber terminals from the gateway system 115-a over the wide spot beam 205-f of the first satellite 105-a-1 while the identified subscriber terminals 130 are still connected to the first communication service. Example means for electronically repointing the antenna include mechanically moving an antenna reflector and/or antenna feed, updating the beam pattern of a phased array or partial phased array antenna, and mechanical or electrical selection of a different feed element.
At least a portion of the process of transitioning the identified subscriber terminals 130 may include updating one or more gateways 115, system databases, and/or other system configurations to connect the identified subscriber terminals 130 to the second communication service. For example, the process of transitioning the identified subscriber terminals 130 to the second communication service may include updating a routing table at one or more gateway systems 115.
In certain examples, the process of transitioning the identified subscriber terminals 130 in the coverage area of the spot beam 210-c from the first communication service to the second communication service may include communicating with the satellites 105 or the gateway system 115-a to perform a handoff or handover function in which communication services provided by the first communication service of the first satellite 105-a-1 to a subscriber terminal 130 are handed over in real time to the second communication service of the second satellite 105-b-1.
Because the pointing angle from the ground to the first satellite 105-a-1 may be different from the pointing angle from the ground to the second satellite 105-b-1, the same frequency spectrum used for communications with the first satellite 105-a-1 may be reused for beams to/from the second satellite 105-b-1. Thus, for example, the second gateway system 115-b for the second satellite 105-b-1 may be anywhere in relation to the gateway system 115-a and wide spot beams for the first satellite 105-a-1 and gateways 115-a and 115-b may still use the same gateway frequency spectrum without causing substantial interference. Moreover, the gateway frequency spectrum for the second satellite 105-b-2 may be the same frequency spectrum as used for the first gateway system 115-a and/or the subscriber terminals 130 communicating with the first satellite 105-a-1. Thus, frequency allocations for the two satellite systems can be done somewhat independently. In certain examples, the frequency spectrum or polarization used by both satellites 105-a-1, 105-b-1 may be coordinated. For example, the frequency spectrum or polarization used by the subscriber terminals 130 may be coordinated such that the same subscriber terminals 130 may be used to communicate with either of the satellites 105-a-1, 105-b-1 by repointing the terminal antenna.
In some examples, the satellite system may employ more than two satellites and may employ high-gain spot beams of different sizes. For example, a third multi-beam satellite may be added to the systems of
In embodiments, a later deployed multi-beam satellite (e.g., second multi-beam satellite and/or third multi-beam satellite above) may use a two-color re-use scheme where each beam uses the entire system bandwidth and adjacent beams or partially overlapping beams use orthogonal polarizations. In one embodiment, a first color uses the entire system bandwidth of a first polarization (e.g., RHCP, etc.) while the second color uses the same system bandwidth of an orthogonal polarization (e.g., LHCP, etc.). The later deployed multi-beam satellite may employ a number of high-gain spot beams using two-color frequency re-use, where each high-gain spot beam overlaps at most one other high-gain spot beam. The two-color frequency re-use may be performed using orthogonal polarizations. One advantage of using the whole system bandwidth for each high-gain spot beam is more flexible application of beam-hopping techniques as described in more detail below.
The wide spot beams 205 may be used to provide a first communication service from a first satellite 105-a and the high-gain spot beams 210 may provide a second communication service from a second satellite 105-b. As shown in
As the demand for communication data throughput within the coverage region of wide spot beams 205 increases, the high-gain spot beams 210 may be deployed to the regions of higher subscriber terminal density or potential demand, and subscriber terminals may be transitioned to the second communication service as appropriate. Thus, a subset of the subscriber terminals located within the coverage region for the first high-gain spot beam 210-d may be transitioned to the second communication service associated with the first high-gain spot beam 210-d. Similarly, a subset of the subscriber terminals located within the second high-gain spot beam 210-e may be transitioned to the second communication service associated with the second high-gain spot beam 210-e. Subscriber terminals outside of the coverage area of either high-gain spot beam 210 may remain subscribed to the first communication service associated with the wide spot beams 205.
As described above, the high-gain spot beams 210 may reuse frequency spectrum used by the wide spot beams 205-g and 205-h.
In embodiments, each high-gain spot beam 210 may have a higher capacity than each wide spot beam 205. For example, while wide spot beam 205-g may use only a portion of the system bandwidth 750, each high-gain spot beam 210 may use up to the entire system bandwidth. In addition, high-gain spot beams 210 have higher antenna gain than wide spot beams 205. The higher antenna gain may allow the use of, for example, a higher order modulation, thereby providing more data capacity in each channel of the system bandwidth.
In embodiments, the higher capacity of high-gain spot beams 210 may open up new markets for satellite service. For example, certain areas such as high population density urban areas may be well-served by wired Internet infrastructure (e.g., cable, fiber optic, etc.) and traditional satellite Internet services may have difficulty competing with the existing wired infrastructure in these areas. However, high-gain spot beams 210 may provide superior data rates and/or capacities and may make satellite Internet service within these regions competitive or more cost effective (e.g., per Mbps) than wired Internet services.
In certain examples, additional measures may be taken with respect to each subscriber terminal located near a fringe area (i.e. outer edge or “low beam” area) of a high-gain spot beam 210 to determine whether to transition that subscriber terminal to the communication service associated with the high-gain spot beam 210 or allow the subscriber terminal to remain a subscriber of the communication service associated with the wide spot beam 205.
In some examples, each subscriber terminal located within a threshold distance of the outer edge of a high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned to the communication service of that high-gain spot beam 210 only if the signal quality of the high-gain spot beam 210 at the location of the subscriber terminal is greater than the signal quality (e.g. the absolute signal level, relative signal level, signal to noise ratio, signal to interference ratio, or the like) of the wide spot beam 205. Additionally or alternatively, each subscriber terminal located within a threshold distance of the outer edge of a high-gain spot beam 210 may be transitioned to the communication service of that high-gain spot beam 210 based on a comparison of the available capacity of the satellite providing the wide spot beam 205 to the available capacity of the satellite providing the high-gain spot beam 210. In additional or alternative examples, default rules may exist that dictate whether a subscriber terminal transitions to the communication service of a high-gain spot beam 210 based on a distance of the subscriber terminal from a center of the high-gain spot beam 210.
The determination of whether to transition a subscriber terminal located near a fringe area of a high-gain spot beam 210 to the communication service associated with that high-gain spot beam 210 may be made, in certain examples by a machine, such as a gateway device or other satellite management device. In such examples, the management device making the determination may receive a location of each subscriber terminal (e.g., in a communication from the subscriber terminal, from a lookup table, or some other means) and determine the appropriate communication service for that subscriber terminal.
Once the determination of whether to transition a subscriber terminal to a high-gain spot beam 210 is made, transitioning the terminal may include repointing an antenna of the terminal for service by the high-gain spot beam. Terminals may be repointed using an automatic or semi-automatic process using some level of user involvement or technician support, as described in more detail below.
In some embodiments, multiple high-gain spot beams 210 may be deployed within or partially overlapping with the coverage region for a single wide spot beam 205.
In the example illustrated in diagram 600-b, high-gain spot beam 210-f may be deployed to provide the second communication service to a first elevated demand region and high-gain spot beam 210-g may be deployed to provide the second communication service to a second elevated demand region. The first and second elevated demand regions may partially or fully overlap with the coverage region for the wide spot beam 205-i. In this example, high-gain spot beams 210-f and 210-g may be spatially separated by a distance δ 630, allowing high-gain spot beams 210-f and 210-g to use the same system resources (e.g., the same frequency and polarization). Distance δ 630 may be minimum distance for frequency re-use and may be based on a minimum angular separation between beams using the same system resources.
In some examples, high-gain spot beams 210 may deployed to provide service with overlapping coverage regions.
In some embodiments, the coverage areas for high-gain spot beams 210-h and 210-i illustrated in
In embodiments, a later deployed multi-beam satellite may use a time sharing or switching scheme where one receive beam (e.g., service beam, feeder beam) at the satellite can be connected to one transmit beam (e.g., service beam, feeder beam). Switches on the satellite may connect the beam signal pathways in a flexible allocation for each slot within a frame, providing flexible coverage area and flexible forward/return link capacity. For example, forward link capacity from a gateway may be flexibly allocated to spot beams by switching a full-spectrum feeder beam received at the satellite from the gateway to a service beam. The full-spectrum feeder beam may be switched between service beams dynamically on a slot-by-slot basis. Thus, at any instant of time, interbeam interference may be managed by placing active beams as far apart as practical. The coverage areas for these transient beams may safely overlap or abut each other in this example.
In some embodiments, time sharing may be used in combination with high-gain spot beam clustering to improve QoS of the communication service to high demand areas.
As illustrated in
On the downlink, a feeder beam that is a substantially full system bandwidth beam may be received at the satellite from a gateway and may be switched to an active service beam on a slot-by-slot basis. Timing diagram 700-d may illustrate switching for downlink feeder beams to provide downlink communications for active high-gain spot beams 210 during each slot 760. In timing diagram 700-d, a downlink feeder beam having a first polarization (POL1) may be switched such that high-gain spot beam 210-j is active during slot 760-0 and slot 760-2 and high-gain spot beam 210-j is active during slot 760-1 and slot 760-3. A substantially full system bandwidth downlink feeder beam having a second polarization (POL2) may be switched to such that high-gain spot beam 210-l is active during slot 760-0 and slot 760-3 and high gain spot beam 210-m is active during slot 760-1. The downlink feeder beams may be switched such that other high-gain spot beams are active during other slots 760. As can be seen from timing diagram 700-d, the system resources used by high-gain spot beams 210-j, 210-k, 210-l, and 210-m are orthogonal from each other either in time or polarization and system resources may be flexibly allocated between high-gain spot beams 210. Uplink communications may be provided for terminals in the coverage areas of high-gain spot beams 210-j, 210-k, 210-l and/or 210-m in a similar manner. While
As described above, a fleet of satellites may be deployed to provide multi-level spot-beam service to a service area. The multi-level spot beam service may include wide spot beams and one or more levels of high-gain spot beams.
In the example of
In the present example, the principles described above may be extended to the second-level high-gain spot beams 610 such that communication services for existing subscriber terminals located within the coverage area of a newly deployed second-level high-gain spot beam 610 may be transitioned to that newly deployed second-level high-gain spot beam 610. This transition may free up capacity and resources in the first-level high-gain spot beams 210 and/or the wide spot beam 205-m, thereby providing the first-level spot beams 210 and/or the wide spot beam 205-m increased capacity to add new subscriber terminals.
Communication services for new subscriber terminals may be implemented using the most localized beam available. Thus, communication services for a newly added subscriber terminal outside of the coverage area of a first- or second-level high-gain spot beam 210, 610 may be implemented using the wide spot beam 205-m. Communication services for a new subscriber terminal within the coverage area of a first-level high-gain spot beam 210 but outside the coverage area of a second-level high-gain spot beam 610 may be implemented at the first-level high-gain spot beam 210. Additionally, communication services for a new subscriber terminal within the coverage area of a second-level high-gain spot beam 610 may be implemented at the second-level high-gain spot beam 610.
As discussed above, second-level high-gain spot beams 610 may be provided via a third satellite with sufficient angular separation from the first satellite serving wide spot beam 205-m and the second satellite serving high-gain spot beams 210. As illustrated in
In some embodiments, the amount of overlap of high-gain spot beams 210, 610 may be varied to improve system capacity within a given region even more. For example, high-gain spot beams 610-d and 610-e may overlap partially as illustrated in
While the example of
As described above, transitioning subscriber terminals from service provided by a wide spot beam 205 to service provided by a high-gain spot beam 210, 610 may include repositioning or repointing the terminal antenna to receive signals from the new satellite.
Method 800 begins at block 850 where the determination is made to repoint the terminal for communication service transitioning. At block 855, a determination is made if the terminal is capable of automatically repointing. For example, where a subscriber terminal is capable of automatically performing one or more steps associated with transitioning to a communication service offered by a high-gain spot beam, the management device may transmit a control signal to the subscriber terminal instructing the subscriber terminal to transition to the communication service of the high-gain spot beam. If the terminal is capable of automatically repointing, a determination is made at block 875 of whether mechanical repointing is needed. If mechanical repointing is not needed, the method may end at block 880 where the service for the terminal is switched electronically (e.g., by switching feed selection, beam weight adjustment, etc.). If mechanical repointing is needed, the control signal may instruct the subscriber terminal to actuate an antenna associated with the subscriber terminal to align the antenna for service via the high-gain spot beam at block 885.
Where the terminal is not capable of automatically performing steps for repointing, the method may transition to block 860 where a determination is made whether the terminal can be repointed by the user. For example, some terminals may have modes to assist users in repointing the terminal without technician support. Where the user can repoint the terminal, the method may end at block 865 where the terminal is repointed by the user for service by the second satellite. If the terminal is not adjustable by the user, a technician may be sent to the terminal location at block 870.
The gateway system 115-b may be configured to route data between one or more core network(s) 930 and a number of terminals. The wide spot beam service module 915 may be in communication with an initially deployed multi-beam satellite, and the high-gain spot beam service module(s) 920 may be in communication with one or more later-deployed multi-beam satellites. The wide spot beam service module 915 may be configured to provide a first communication service associated with a wide spot beam of the first satellite to a first coverage area having multiple terminals. The high-gain spot beam service module 920 may be configured to provide a second communication service associated with a high-gain spot beam of the second satellite to a second coverage area, the second coverage area being located within the first coverage area. The high-gain spot beam service module 920 may further be configured to provide service using second-level high-gain spot beams (e.g., via the third satellite) to additional coverage areas located within the first coverage area and/or other coverage areas of the first and/or second satellite.
The data routing module 910 may be configured to selectively route data between the one or more core network(s) 930 and each of the terminals in the first coverage area using either the wide spot beam service module 915 or the high-gain spot beam service module(s) 920. The one or more core network(s) 930 may include content delivery networks (CDNs), IP networks of the satellite operator, the Internet, etc. Initially, the data routing module 910 may be configured to route all traffic between the terminals in the first coverage area and the one or more core networks 930 using only the wide spot beam service module 915. When the high-gain spot beam of the second satellite is deployed to the second coverage area, the service transition module 925 may update the data routing module to transition identified terminals that are located within the second coverage area from the first communication service implemented by the wide spot beam service module 915 to the second communication service implemented by the high-gain spot beam service module(s) 920.
In certain examples, the data routing module 910 may be further configured to receive a request to initiate satellite communications with at least one new terminal and route data between the network(s) and the at least one new terminal through the wide spot beam service module 915 and the first satellite in response to a determination that the at least one new terminal is located outside of the second coverage area. If the at least one new terminal is determined to be located within the second coverage area, the data routing module 910 may be configured to route data between the core network(s) 930 and the at least one new terminal through the high-gain spot beam service module 920 and the second satellite.
In certain examples, the data routing module 910 may select the wide spot beam service 915 or the high-gain spot beam service 920 for a terminal near a fringe area of the second coverage area based on signal strength or available capacity. Additionally, in certain examples, the service transition module 925 may transmit a control signal to one of the terminals located within the second coverage area to instruct the selected terminal to actuate an antenna to align the antenna with the spot beam of the second satellite.
The service provisioning module 935 may re-provision communication services or provision new communication services based on transition of terminals from the first to the second communication service. For example, the service provisioning module 935 may re-provision the first communication service for a higher service level (e.g., QoS guarantee, etc.) for all terminals that have not been transitioned to the second communication service. For example, bandwidth of the first satellite may be newly available because of transition of a number of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service and that bandwidth can be used to re-provision the first communication service. Additionally or alternatively, the service provisioning module 935 may provision a new communication service provided via the first satellite. Terminals remaining with the first communication service may be selectively transitioned (e.g., based on consumer demand or by the direction of the system operator, etc.) to the new communication service. Provisioning or re-provisioning communication services may include updating information at the terminals or gateway for service flow control (e.g., traffic shaping, etc.).
The subscriber data store 1020 may be configured to store data associating each of a plurality of terminals with a first communication service. The terminals may be located within a coverage area of a wide spot beam served by an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite. The network configuration module 1010 may be configured to identify a subset of the terminals made up of terminals located within a coverage area of a high-gain spot beam of a later deployed second multi-beam satellite associated with a second communication service. The network configuration module 1010 may update the data of the subscriber data store 1020 to associate the terminals of the identified subset with the second communication service. The routing configuration module 1015 may be configured to cause network data to be routed between a network and each terminal using either the first communication service or the second communication service based on the data stored in the subscriber data store 1020.
In certain examples, the network configuration module 1010 may also update the routing configuration module 1015 to associate a new subscriber terminal with one of the communication services based on a number of rules. For instance, the network configuration module 1010 may identify a new terminal and update the subscriber data store 1020 to associate the new terminal with the first communication service in response to a determination that the new terminal is located outside the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam. If the new terminal is located inside the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam, the network configuration module 1010 may update the subscriber data store 1020 to associate the new terminal with the second communication service.
In additional or alternative examples, the network configuration module 1010 may determine whether one or more terminals located near fringe areas of the coverage area of the spot beam are to be associated with the first communication service or the second communication service, and update the subscriber data store 1020 accordingly.
The fleet management device 1110 may manage the deployment of the satellites 105 and the allocation of subscriber terminals among the different satellites 105 according to the principles described above with respect to the previous Figures. In the present example, the fleet management device 1110 may include a demand monitoring module 1115, a service transition module 1125, and a service provisioning module 1135. Each of these modules 1115, 1125, and 1135 may be in communication with each other, directly or indirectly.
The fleet 1105 of satellites 105 may include a first multi-beam satellite 105-a-2 and one or more second and/or third multi-beam satellites (e.g., satellites 105-b-2, 105-n, etc.). The first multi-beam satellite 105-a-2 may be an initially deployed satellite and may provide substantially complete coverage for a service area using tiled wide spot beams and frequency re-use (e.g., four color, etc.). The second and/or third multi-beam satellites may be later deployed satellites and may service high-gain spot beams that overlap the wide spot beams of the first satellite 105-a-2. The second and/or third satellites may re-use system resources (e.g., frequency ranges, polarizations) of the first satellite. In embodiments, high-gain spot beams of the second and/or third satellites may use a two-color frequency re-use scheme where beams use most or all of a system bandwidth and colors are separated by orthogonal polarization. Interbeam interference for high-gain spot beams from the same satellite may be managed by physical constraints on beam coverage areas (e.g., color separation for coverage regions) and/or time sharing where active beams are separated (e.g., by color and/or physically).
The demand monitoring module 1115 of the fleet management device 1110 may be configured to identify regions associated with elevated levels of satellite communication service demand. The demand monitoring module 1115 may identify terminals within the elevated demand regions that subscribe to a first communication service associated with a first beam of a first satellite 105-a-2 of the fleet 1105. The demand monitoring module 1115 may be utilized in positioning high-gain spot beams of the later deployed satellites such that coverage regions for the high-gain spot beams substantially correspond with elevated demand regions within coverage regions of the wide spot beams of the first satellite.
The service transition module 1125 may be configured to transition the terminals within the coverage area of the high-gain spot beams from the first communication service associated with the wide spot beams of the first satellite 105-a-2 to a second and/or third communication service associated with high gain spot beams of the second and/or third satellites. The terminals within the coverage area of the second beam may be transitioned upon request for the second communication service by users associated with the terminals, or the terminals of the identified subset may be transitioned at the direction of the satellite system operator.
In certain examples, the service transition module 1125 may be further configured to identify at least one new terminal located within a coverage region of a beam of the first satellite and determine whether the new terminal is located within the coverage area of a high-gain spot beam. If the new terminal is outside of the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam, the service transition module 1125 may cause the new terminal(s) to subscribe to the first communication service associated with the beam of the first satellite 105-a-2. If the new terminal is located within the coverage area of one or more high-gain beams, the service transition module 1125 may cause the new terminal to subscribe to the second communication service associated with the high-gain spot beams.
In certain examples, the service transition module 1125 may be further configured to identify one or more of the terminals that are located near a fringe area of a high-gain spot beam (e.g., of the second or third satellite) and determine whether those terminals are to receive service from a wide spot beam of the first satellite 105-a-2 or the high-gain spot beam. This decision may be made based on a comparison of the available capacity of the first satellite 105-a-2 to the available capacity of the second and/or third satellites. Additionally or alternatively, the decision may be made based on a comparison of the signal strength of each beam at the terminal device in question.
The service provisioning module 1135 may re-provision communication services or provision new communication services based on transition of terminals from the first to the second communication service. For example, the service provisioning module 1135 may re-provision the first communication service for a higher service level (e.g., QoS guarantee, etc.) for all terminals that have not been transitioned to the second communication service. For example, bandwidth of the first satellite may be newly available because of transition of a number of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service and that bandwidth can be used to re-provision the first communication service. Additionally or alternatively, the service provisioning module 1135 may provision a new communication service provided via the first satellite. Terminals remaining with the first communication service may be selectively transitioned (e.g., based on consumer demand or by the direction of the system operator, etc.) to the new communication service. Provisioning or re-provisioning communication services may include updating information at the terminals or gateway for service flow control (e.g., traffic shaping, etc.).
At block 1205, a first communication service associated with an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite is provided to a wide spot beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams. For example, the first satellite may provide substantially complete coverage for a service area using tiled wide spot beams and frequency re-use (e.g., four color, etc.). At block 1210, a second communication service associated with a later deployed second multi-beam satellite is provided to a plurality of high-gain spot beam coverage regions via multiple fixed location beams of the second satellite. For example, the second satellite may be deployed after the first satellite and may provide service to coverage regions within the service area of the first satellite using multiple high-gain spot beams. The plurality of high-gain spot beam coverage regions may include a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first wide spot beam coverage region, and a second elevated demand region located at least partially within the first and/or a second wide spot beam coverage region.
At block 1215, a first set of terminals is transitioned from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first set of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first set of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite. At block 1220, a second set of terminals is transitioned from the first communication service to the second communication service, the second set of terminals located in the second elevated demand region and initially associated with a second fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the second plurality of terminals are then associated with a second fixed location beam of the second satellite. The first and second sets of terminals may be transitioned upon request for the second communication service by users associated with the terminals, or the terminals of the identified subset may be transitioned at the direction of the satellite system operator.
At block 1305, a first communication service associated with a wide spot beam of a first satellite is provided to a first coverage area having a plurality of terminals. At block 1310, a second communication service associated with a high-gain spot beam of a second satellite is provided to a second coverage area located within the first coverage area. At block 1315, a subset of the terminals in the first coverage area is identified, each terminal in the subset being also located within the second coverage area. At block 1320, the terminals of the identified subset are transitioned from the first communication service of the wide spot beam of the first satellite to the second communication service of the high-gain spot beam of the second satellite.
At block 1325, a new terminal is identified. At block 1330, a determination is made of whether the new terminal is located in the second coverage area (i.e. the coverage area of the high-gain spot beam). The location of the new terminal may be determined in a number of ways. In certain examples, the terminal location may be determined manually by an installer. In additional or alternative examples, the new terminal may transmit its location to the first satellite, the second satellite, and/or a gateway or other management device associated with the first and second satellite. Additionally or alternatively, the location of the new terminal may be determined from an IP or other network address associated with the new terminal. In still other examples, the location of the new terminal may be ascertained using the Global Positioning System (GPS) or another form of triangulation.
If the new terminal is not located in the second coverage area, communication between the new terminal and the first communication service is initiated over the wide spot beam of the first satellite at block 1335. If the new terminal is located within the second coverage area, communication between the new terminal and the second communication service is initiated over the high-gain spot beam of the second satellite at block 1340.
At block 1405, a first communication service associated with a wide spot beam of a first satellite is provided to a first coverage area having a plurality of terminals. At block 1410, a second communication service associated with a high-gain spot beam of a second satellite is provided to a second coverage area located within the first coverage area. At block 1415, communications for terminals located within the coverage are of the high-gain spot beam and at least a threshold distance away from a fringe area of the high-gain spot beam are transitioned from the first communication service to the second communication service. At block 1420, at least one terminal near a fringe area of the high-gain spot beam is identified. At block 1425, a measurement of a signal strength of the wide spot beam and a signal strength of the high-gain spot beam at the location of the identified terminal are received. At block 1430, a determination is made as to whether the signal strength of the high-gain spot beam is greater than the signal strength of the wide spot beam at the location of the at least one terminal near the fringe area of the spot beam. If so (block 1430, Yes), the identified at least one terminal is transitioned from the first communication to the second communication service at block 1435. Otherwise (block 1430, No), communications for the identified terminal are allowed to remain at the first communication service at block 1440.
In additional or alternative examples, the type and configuration of hardware used by terminals at the fringes of the spot beam may influence whether each fringe terminal connects to the first communication service or the second communication service. For example, if the ability of a terminal at the fringe of the spot beam to connect to the second communication service is contingent on an upgrade or replacement of equipment at the terminal, it may be more practical for the terminal to continue communicating with the first communication service rather than transition to the second communication service.
At block 1505, a first communication service associated with a wide spot beam of a first satellite is provided to a first coverage area having a plurality of terminals. At block 1510, data is routed between a network and the terminals through the first communication service by a data routing module of a gateway system. At block 1515, a second communication service associated with a high-gain spot beam of a second satellite is initiated, the second communication service being directed to a second coverage area that is located within the first coverage area. At block 1520, a subset of terminals is identified, each terminal in the subset being located within the second coverage area. At block 1525, the data routing module of the gateway is updated to transition the identified subset of the terminals to the second communication service associated with the high-gain spot beam of the second satellite. Transitioning the identified subset of terminals to the second communication service may include manually, automatically, or semi-automatically repointing the identified subset of terminals (e.g., according to the method 800 illustrated in
At block 1605, data associating each of a plurality of terminals with a first communication service is stored at a data store. The terminals are located within a coverage area of the first communication service associated with a wide spot beam of a first satellite. At block 1610, a subset of the terminals is identified. The terminals in the subset are located within a coverage area of a second communication service associated with a spot beam of a second satellite. The coverage area of the second communication service may be within the coverage area of the first communication service. At block 1615, the data of the data store is updated to associate the terminals of the identified subset with the second communication service. At block 1620, at least one handoff (e.g., manual, automatic, or semiautomatic terminal repointing, beam weight adjustment, etc.) between the first satellite and the second satellite is initiated to transition the terminals of the identified subset from the first communication service to the second communication service. At block 1625, network data is selectively routed between a network and each terminal using one of the first communication service or the second communication service. This routing is based on the data of the data store.
At block 1705 of method 1700, a first communication service associated with an initially deployed first multi-beam satellite is provided to a wide spot beam coverage regions via a plurality of fixed location beams. For example, the first satellite may provide substantially complete coverage for a service area using tiled wide spot beams and frequency re-use (e.g., four color, etc.). At block 1710, a second communication service associated with a later deployed second multi-beam satellite is provided to a plurality of high-gain spot beam coverage regions via multiple fixed location beams of the second satellite. For example, the second satellite may be deployed after the first satellite and may provide service to coverage regions within the service area of the first satellite using multiple high-gain spot beams. The plurality of high-gain spot beam coverage regions may include a first elevated demand region located at least partially within a first wide spot beam coverage region.
At block 1715, a first set of terminals is transitioned from the first communication service to the second communication service, the first set of terminals located in the first elevated demand region and initially associated with a first fixed location beam of the first satellite, such that the first set of terminals are then associated with a first fixed location beam of the second satellite. The first set of terminals may be transitioned upon request for the second communication service by users associated with the terminals, or the terminals of the identified subset may be transitioned at the direction of the satellite system operator.
Transitioning the first set of terminals from the first communication service to the second communication service may free up substantial bandwidth resources of the first multi-beam satellite. At block 1720, the first communication service may be re-provisioned to provide a higher service level to terminals located outside the first elevated demand region and associated with the first fixed location beam of the first satellite. For example, the total bandwidth of the first fixed location beam may be divided up (using statistical multiplexing, etc.) among a lower number of current and/or expected subscribers, resulting in a higher QoS level for all terminals subscribed to the first communication service. Re-provisioning may include modifying parameters at the terminals and/or gateway to change traffic flow behavior (e.g., traffic shaping, etc.) based on the higher QoS level.
As will be readily understood, the components and modules described with reference to various embodiments above may, individually or collectively, be implemented with one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) adapted to perform some or all of the applicable functions in hardware. Alternatively, the functions may be performed by one or more other processing units (or cores), on one or more integrated circuits. In other embodiments, other types of integrated circuits may be used (e.g., Structured/Platform ASICs, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and other Semi-Custom ICs), which may be programmed in any manner known in the art. The functions of each unit may also be implemented, in whole or in part, with instructions embodied in a memory, formatted to be executed by one or more general or application-specific processors.
It should be noted that the methods, systems and devices discussed above are intended merely to be examples. It must be stressed that various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, it should be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, the methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and that various steps may be added, omitted or combined. Also, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Also, it should be emphasized that technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are exemplary in nature and should not be interpreted to limit the scope of embodiments of the principles described herein.
Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.
Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps not included in the figure.
Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or combinations thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a computer-readable medium such as a storage medium. Processors may perform the necessary tasks.
Having described several embodiments, it will be recognized by those of skill in the art that various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the principles described herein. For example, the above elements may merely be a component of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the principles described herein. Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
10097253, | Nov 12 2014 | HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO , LTD | Control device, communication node and methods thereof |
10111109, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system using time domain beam hopping |
10128577, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system with different frequency plan at the equator |
10128578, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system beam to beam handover |
10135154, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system with beam hopping plan that takes into account the needs of gateways and subscriber terminals |
10200922, | Jun 09 2017 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite network switching |
10341408, | Feb 10 2015 | Viasat, Inc | Transport path-aware quality of service for mobile communications |
10347987, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system having terminals in hopping beams communicating with more than one gateway |
10349422, | Dec 14 2015 | Higher Ground LLC | Server participation in avoidance of interference in wireless communications |
10381748, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system with handover for multiple gateways |
10397920, | Jan 22 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite diversity |
10411362, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Synchronization for satellite system |
10418724, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system with steerable gateway beams |
10587333, | Dec 13 2016 | Inmarsat Global Limited | Forward link power control |
10594046, | Mar 29 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite system with single polarization path |
10601502, | Feb 05 2018 | U S BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | Systems and methods for flexible assignment of beams to gateways in a high throughput digital payload satellite network |
10727935, | Feb 06 2017 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Scheduler apparatus and scheduling method |
10763954, | Jul 23 2018 | U S BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | Precise beam forming based on user equipment location |
10770788, | Sep 26 2013 | Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation | Ground-based satellite antenna pointing system |
10771530, | Feb 10 2015 | ViaSat, Inc. | Transport path-aware quality of service for mobile communications |
10887002, | Jun 20 2019 | Thales | Telecommunications payload with coverage and capacity flexibility |
10887004, | Jun 09 2017 | AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE SAS; CENTRE NATIONAL D ETUDES SPATIALES CNES | Telecommunications satellite, beamforming method and method for manufacturing a satellite payload |
10917166, | Jul 23 2018 | U S BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION | Dynamic allocation of satellite gateway assignments |
10986636, | Jan 22 2016 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite diversity |
11088757, | Mar 16 2017 | ViaSat, Inc. | High-throughput satellite with sparse fixed user beam coverage |
11115114, | Aug 01 2017 | ViaSat, Inc. | Handover of a mobile terminal in a multi-beam satellite based on network conditions |
11171720, | Jun 28 2019 | Amazon Technologies, Inc. | Content and compute delivery platform using satellites |
11177875, | Jul 23 2018 | Hughes Network Systems, LLC | Precise beam forming based on user equipment location |
11201939, | Jun 28 2019 | Amazon Technologies, Inc. | Content and compute delivery platform using satellites |
11296780, | Feb 15 2017 | ViaSat, Inc. | Dynamic spatial allocation of satellite capacity based on mobile vessel load forecasting |
11552696, | May 29 2018 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Relay station, control station, data transmission system, data transmission method, control circuit, and recording medium |
11601193, | Jul 23 2018 | Hughes Network Systems, LLC | Precise beam forming based on user equipment location |
11792708, | Oct 05 2018 | Comcast Cable Communications, LLC | Systems and methods for call management |
11811487, | Aug 01 2017 | ViaSat, Inc. | Handover of a mobile terminal in a multi-beam satellite based on network conditions |
11863250, | Jan 06 2021 | Lynk Global, Inc.; LYNK GLOBAL, INC | Satellite communication system transmitting navigation signals using a wide beam and data signals using a directive beam |
11876601, | Apr 26 2017 | LYNK GLOBAL, INC | Method and apparatus for handling communications between spacecraft operating in an orbital environment and terrestrial telecommunications devices that use terrestrial base station communications |
11876602, | Oct 25 2018 | HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO , LTD | Communication method, apparatus, and system based on satellite network |
11916652, | Sep 21 2018 | COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED | Method of, and apparatus for, improved satellite communications |
11973575, | Mar 16 2017 | ViaSat, Inc. | High-throughput satellite with sparse fixed user beam coverage |
12063568, | Apr 30 2019 | SONY GROUP CORPORATION | Electronic apparatus, wireless communication method and computer-readable medium |
9014620, | Jan 07 2013 | ViaSat, Inc. | Satellite fleet deployment |
9221553, | Jun 26 2013 | Rockwell Collins, Inc.; Rockwell Collins, Inc | Peer-to-peer mobile satcom |
9681337, | Aug 05 2015 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Satellite-to-satellite handoff in satellite communications system |
9705586, | Oct 05 2015 | MAXAR SPACE LLC | Satellite with transition beam size |
9824593, | Sep 21 2015 | Rockwell Collins, Inc.; Rockwell Collins, Inc | System and method for holistic flight and route management |
9831939, | Dec 20 2013 | Avanti Broadband Limited | Internet access via satellite |
9912399, | Jan 07 2013 | Viasat, Inc | Satellite fleet deployment |
9930091, | Feb 10 2015 | ViaSat, Inc. | Transport path-aware quality of service for mobile communications |
9942813, | Jun 20 2016 | The Boeing Company | Coordinating inter-satellite handoff in a telecommunications system |
ER8034, |
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
6173178, | Dec 16 1997 | Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation | Satellite beam pattern for non-uniform population distribution |
6456846, | Oct 17 1997 | Hughes Electronics Corp. | Non-uniform multi-beam satellite communications method |
7142809, | Feb 27 2001 | The DIRECTV Group, Inc. | Device and method to locally fill gaps in spotbeam satellite systems with frequency re-use |
20040092257, |
Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
Mar 14 2013 | ViaSat, Inc. | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Mar 14 2013 | DANKBERG, MARK | Viasat, Inc | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 030010 | /0997 | |
Nov 26 2013 | Viasat, Inc | UNION BANK, N A , AS AGENT FOR THE SECURED PARTIES | SECURITY AGREEMENT | 031868 | /0789 | |
Mar 27 2019 | Viasat, Inc | Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Collateral Trustee | SECURITY INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 048715 | /0589 | |
Mar 04 2022 | Viasat, Inc | BANK OF AMERICA, N A | SECURITY AGREEMENT | 059332 | /0558 | |
May 30 2023 | Viasat, Inc | BANK OF AMERICA, N A , AS AGENT | SECURITY AGREEMENT | 063822 | /0446 |
Date | Maintenance Fee Events |
Mar 18 2014 | ASPN: Payor Number Assigned. |
Oct 26 2017 | M1551: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 4th Year, Large Entity. |
Oct 29 2021 | M1552: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 8th Year, Large Entity. |
Date | Maintenance Schedule |
Apr 29 2017 | 4 years fee payment window open |
Oct 29 2017 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Apr 29 2018 | patent expiry (for year 4) |
Apr 29 2020 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4) |
Apr 29 2021 | 8 years fee payment window open |
Oct 29 2021 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Apr 29 2022 | patent expiry (for year 8) |
Apr 29 2024 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8) |
Apr 29 2025 | 12 years fee payment window open |
Oct 29 2025 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Apr 29 2026 | patent expiry (for year 12) |
Apr 29 2028 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12) |